


Little One

by TrishaCollins



Series: Babysitting And Other Royal Duties [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Horrifying science and small children, Nifs and science, Verstael Besithia - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 22:33:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17989754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrishaCollins/pseuds/TrishaCollins
Summary: On a routine mission into enemy territory, Cor encounters something that shocks even him. The only obvious choice was to rescue it.





	Little One

If Cor was honest with himself, he preferred working alone. Take only the gear he needed, make his own way in without making allowances for the skill level of anyone else. He had been skulking around the Nif base for three days with no detection, gathering the information he needed from terminals left opened by careless scientists. 

He was almost finished, really. Anyone else would probably have stopped with the data dump he’d gotten from the first open terminal.

Cor was not ‘anyone else’, and he hadn’t taken this mission to do a halfway decent job. Besithia was as cruel and twisted as they’d expected. 

Probably more so, if the recordings of his ramblings were any indication. Experimenting on their own people. A crazy man with the access to the devil’s own purse to make his nightmares a reality. He tapped the door sensor lightly with his stolen badge, waiting until the light turned green before he started into the room.

A smaller lab, according to the plans he had stolen. Should be one of Besithia’s private areas. The better chance to steal more data on the weapons they were intending to build. 

The smallest of noises alerted him to the fact that he was not alone, he slid into cover, taking a moment to observe the room. He had checked the readouts, none of the staff with a badge should be present in the room. 

Nothing, the room was empty. Nothing moved in the darkness. 

The tubes lining the walls held knots of seething, pulsing flesh which made him curl his lip in distaste. Who knew what Besithia intended for them? The one closest to him had nubs that closely resembled fingers sticking out of the blob, but no other human features. Could this be what he meant about the alternate power sources? He lifted the camera and took a quick picture, and then another to make sure the angle was right. He made his way around, checking each of the tubes, and sticking the data reader he had into the center console, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom with the new illumination. 

In the center of the room was a table. The table had an occupant, small, but distinctly human shaped.

One of the machines above him made a gurgling noise, and the tiny, uncertain sound repeated itself. 

Like a wounded animal might, the child shaped thing was whimpering. Involuntarily, he took a step forward. 

Hooked to wires, stuck through with tubes, and attached to the many machines around him was a child smaller than Prince Noctis. Blue eyes blinked, staring upwards, but somehow unfocused. 

His data reader beeped behind him, forgotten. It was in, waiting for him to submit a command. Six save him. This was a child. A bare headed, teary eyed baby held to the table like a frog in a science classroom.

He had not suspected himself of possessing even the smallest shred of parental inclination, and could only imagine what Clarus or Regis would feel when confronted with this….aberration. 

“Sh, sh.” He tried, ineffectively. It only made the eyes turn towards him in the gloom, little hands trying to move within their restraints, clutching at nothing. Noctis did that when he was seeking comfort, kneading at the chest of his nurse to remind her that he needed fed. He took off the wool cap he wore, pressing it into those tiny fingers. “Let me make sure it is safe to remove you.” 

He turned to the console, imputing the various commands he had used to rip data from these things before, checking the vitals – stable – and the purpose of the many wires the child wore in place of clothes. 

Feeding tubes, monitoring, restraints, drips, a breathing regulator that was currently switched off, electro stimulates on his chest for if his head stopped and a waste disposal unit that drained his bladder and bowels on a routine schedule. Sickened, he turned away from the screen, swallowing back the rise of bile. 

Ifrit’s balls, he had not thought that even Besithia could sink to this level. 

He searched around the lab and found a carrying sack and some spare blankets, shoved in a forgotten cupboard. They were dusty, but he was sure they would do for the short term. No diapers, which he would need to remedy if the child survived the removal from this sterile place he occupied – but he couldn’t leave the small thing here, suffering. Death was better than this existence. 

He took the data stick out of the computer, letting it go into Armiger where it should remain until he returned before turning to the child. 

He started with the restraints, judging them to be the least risky. 

The child turned his head as soon as he was stable, teary eyes still unfocused but looking up at him.

It took some doing to figure out the tube that had been slid down his throat, and the horrifying gagging sound that the baby made when it was removed would likely haunt him for years to come. The waste disposal unit was easy by contrast, and the needles slid out with barely a spot of blood. 

He left the monitoring equipment for last, judging that it would likely raise some alarm and he would rather not be hurried in removing any of the other equipment. 

The child resumed his soft whimpering, louder now that his throat and mouth were clear.

“Easy.” He whispered. “Easy. I’m helping you, even if you may not understand it yet. You are coming with me. 

He sat the child up on the table, only to get one small, desperate hand clutching at his sleeve, wide blue eyes staring into nothing. The other hand tried to grab him, but it was still holding his cap. He tucked the blanket around the baby, and severed the wires with a clean slice that by accident or design made the work station explode into a pillar of fire. 

He fell back, exiting the room the way he’d come, baby clutched tight to his chest as he ran.

All around them the base came alive with alarms, and the child’s whimpering became louder for a moment before it silenced against his chest. 

Later, when he had time, he intended to put him in the sack, but for the moment he would manage his sword one handed and keep him close.

Everything else he would deal with later.


End file.
